{"id":354489,"date":"2026-09-23T10:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354489\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:36:11","slug":"the-plan-nycs-first-flight-club-aims-for-a-bulls-eye-at-31-union-square-west-commercial-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354489\/","title":{"rendered":"The Plan: NYC\u2019s First Flight Club Aims for a Bull\u2019s-Eye at 31 Union Square West \u2013 Commercial Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first rule of Flight Club<\/a> is to find a historically significant building to lease.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2012 by British friends Steve Moore and Paul Barham, Flight Club \u2014 a U.K.-based chain of fanciful pubs for darts aficionados \u2014 has grown into an international event venue that brings people together with food, fun, drinks and, of course, darts.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: 100 Gold Street Conversion Boosted to Yield 4,000 Housing Units<\/a><\/p>\n

Flight Club, which State of Play Hospitality<\/a> operates in North America under license, is getting ready to open its first New York City location \u2014 but 12th in the U.S. \u2014 at 31 Union Square West<\/a>. Built between 1902 and 1903, 31 Union Square West<\/a> was previously headquarters to the Bank of Metropolis, and then served as the home of the Blue Water Grill restaurant from 1996 to 2019.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Who's
\n\t\t\tCommercial Observer\t\t<\/p>\n

A space with a unique history in an active restaurant and entertainment hub was key in the search for Flight Club\u2019s first New York City spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brand owners in the U.K. have always sought out historic, architecturally significant, beautiful buildings,\u201d said Toby Harris, president and CEO of State of Play Hospitality. \u201cThat\u2019s always been a pillar of the brand in the U.K., and it\u2019s wonderful that we managed to find such a building in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Union Square West location is designed to reflect the overall Flight Club aesthetic. But its hoped-for clientele \u2014 a blend of corporate clients and social guests \u2014 will also encounter elements unique to that space due to the property\u2019s vintage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building dates to the earliest days of the 20th century,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s a spectacular space, and we\u2019ve tried to retain as many original features as possible, starting with the ground-floor banking hall that is blessed with the most wonderful, stunning marble on the walls, and some amazing mosaic tiles on the floor. And then a grand marble staircase that connects the ground floor to the basement spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the renovation, Harris said State of Play Hospitality removed a mezzanine level that was part of the configuration of Blue Water Grill, and which resulted in lower ceiling heights. A low ceiling is great for a restaurant, but not so much for a vibrant entertainment venue where darts will be flying around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to rip the mezz out, which then exposed more of the marble and more of the stunning sort of cornice ceiling,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThere are very high ceilings, and we have the Flight Club ring lights \u2014 which are a core brand feature \u2014 throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overall aesthetic of Flight Club is an upscale and whimsical Victorian English pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe firmly believe when you walk into a Flight Club, it needs to be obvious that we are a cocktail bar, an upscale environment, and somewhere where you immediately get a sense of quality,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThe bar is always the centerpiece \u2026 and you have lots of cabochon lighting and fairground features, so it\u2019s very uplifting. It\u2019s high energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That uplifting sense of whimsy extends to the areas where guests can test their dart-throwing skills. Known as an oche \u2014 rhymes with \u201chockey\u201d \u2014 each play area has different themes, including hot air balloons, animals and old-time fairgrounds.<\/p>\n

State of Play Hospitality is aiming to open Flight Club at 31 Union Square West<\/a> in late September or early October, with an eye toward adding more venues across Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first rule of Flight Club is to find a historically significant building to lease. Founded in 2012…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[9368,3624,2184,75,84,83,9,24,63,132177,132176,132178,10019,62148],"class_list":["post-354489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-slideshow","tag-channel","tag-development","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-paul-barham","tag-redevelopment-31-union-square-west","tag-steve-moore","tag-the-plan","tag-toby-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}